The people of
Israel forsook the LORD and His commandments, and when Amos the
prophet shared the LORD's words against them, he told them to “Come
to Bethel, and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression; and
bring your sacrifices every morning, and
your tithes after three years”. In
chapter four and verse five of his prophesy, Amos continued the
LORD's exhortation as He told them to “offer
a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven”
where we read:
And
offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim and
publish the free offerings: for this likes you, O you children of
Israel, says the Lord GOD.
The verse begins, “And offer a
sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim and
publish the free offerings:” Amos began
with the words, “And offer” or
“burn, make and cause to smoke” “a
sacrifice of thanksgiving” which refers to
“confession and praise” “with leaven”
or “fermentation and extortion”, “and
proclaim” which means “call out, read and
cry out” “and publish”
or “hear, listen to and obey” “the free
offerings” which refers to “voluntary and
spontaneous gifts”. The LORD continued his ridicule and promotion
for the people of Israel to worship their false gods, and they were
to include “extortion” and “voluntary gifts”.
The
verse continues, “ for this likes you, O you children of
Israel, says the Lord GOD. Amos
added, “for this likes you”
or “therefore, thus and just so loves and has affection for”, “O
you children” which means
“sons, grandsons and children” “of Israel”
which means “God prevails” and was “the name of the
descendants and the nation of the descendants of Jacob ”,
“says” or “utters,
proclaims and declares” “the Lord God”
which refers to “Yehovah or Jehovah who is the existing One and the
proper name for the one true God”. God declared this was the sort
of worship for which they had “affection”.
When
we think through these words of Amos, we see how the LORD continued
to persuade the people of Israel to worship their false gods. God
knew they would find these idols worthless, and since the people were
resolved to worship them, He told them to offer “praise” with
“leaven” which was the symbol of “sin” in their offerings and
to promote the idea of doing so. Jesus Christ came to replace all the
“false idols” upon which people are affectionate and depend upon,
and should they reject and refuse to receive Him as their personal
LORD and Savior, they shall find their “offerings” are full of
“leaven” and shall have no value at all.
Next
time Amos shares about “cleanness
of teeth and want of bread”,
so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow…there is more…
Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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